If terror suspects are among those making their homes in Thomson, so be it, residents said.

"People here are hungry for jobs and they're tired of promises being broken," said Dawn Burkholder, who bought a dog-grooming salon on Thomson's Main Street a year ago. "It's going to have a huge impact around here. I know it's a little scary for everybody, but I know it's going to be good."

The maximum-security prison on the north end of Thomson has sat virtually empty since its completion in 2001 -- a reminder, residents say, of the shifting political winds in Springfield.

As one plan after another failed to fill the prison grounds, the town of Thomson fell on hard times. An Army depot shut down, so did the local high school. Businesses closed and some people who'd bought homes in preparation for the prison's opening were forced to sell.

Some have estimated a federal takeover of the prison could mean as many as 3,000 new jobs to Thomson and the small communities around it. More conservative estimates put that number at 1,800. Either way, it has the potential to transform the region, said Thomson Village President Jerry "Duke" Hebeler.

"When it comes to jobs, we'll take whatever we can get," Hebeler said. "We've been waiting for this for a long time."

Todd Baker is like a lot of small-business owners in Thomson who've known nothing but struggle and hardship over the last couple of years.

First it was failing businesses, then soaring gas prices, then the housing slump and, finally, the recession.

Baker, 43, who bought a tiny bait shop along Illinois Highway 84 three years ago, said the local business community has long looked at the Thomson Correctional Center with cautious optimism. They believed, and still do, that it may be the town's last and best chance for a turnaround.

"I know me and every other business loves it and still has high hopes for it," Baker said. "I've had maybe three or four people, out of a couple hundred, who say they don't want (terror suspects) there. The vast majority, though, don't mind it."

Most residents who were interviewed welcomed the White House's decision.

But one who didn't was Gail Jacobsen of nearby Fulton. She thought the economic figures were inflated, and she feared that the area would suffer a stigma if terror suspects and terrorists were imprisoned in the area.

"I know if I was looking for a place to move and I heard there are terrorists here, I wouldn't choose to come here," Jacobsen said. "Maybe there shouldn't be, but I feel like there's a difference between housing terrorist and (typical prisoners)."